734 Naval Air Squadron (734 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was active between 1944 and 1946, formed as a naval Engine Handling Unit. Initially operating out of RNAS Worthy Down, it subsequently relocated to RNAS Peplow, where it eventually disbanded.
History of 734 NAS
Engine Handling Unit (1944 - 1946)
An RAF Armstrong Whitworth Whitley MkVII, an example of the type used by 734 NAS
734 Naval Air Squadron was formed on the 14 February 1944, at RNAS Worthy Down (HMS Kestrel), located 3.5 miles (6 km) north of Winchester, Hampshire, England, as an Engine Handling Unit, where the squadron operated Whitley Mk VII aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm used modified, ex-Royal Air Force Mk VIIs, to train the aircrew, having previously evaluated the Whitley. The pre-war designed bombers were fitted out to become a flying 'class room', with instrumentation and fuel flow meters, to give student pilots an understanding of throttle and boost settings, to enable those aircrew, converting from biplanes, the correct way to handle the Rolls-Royce Merlin-powered Barracuda aircraft.[2][3]
In November 1945 six Avro Lancaster aircraft were transferred from the Air Ministry to the Admiralty, intended to replace the Armstrong Whitley operated by 734 NAS. The squadron was to also have been the only Fleet Air Arm unit to receive Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, however, none of this came to fruition with the squadron being disbanded on 21 February 1946 and the Lancasters were instead issued to 780 NAS Advanced Flying Training Squadron.[2]
United Kingdom
Royal Navy